All posts tagged: Europe

Historical Map: Gothenburg Tramways, January 1966

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Historical Maps

An pleasant mid-century diagrammatic tram (and bus) map for the Swedish city of Gothenburg. The two major points of interest for me are the nice little turnaround loops at the ends of each tram line (everyone who’s ever ridden a tram would instantly understand that), and the interesting “lightning bolt” symbols used to indicate free transfers between stops that have some distance between them. (A quick Google Translate of the legend for that symbol gives “Connects […]

Submission – Fantasy Future Map: Glasgow Integrated Rail by Angus Doyle

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Fantasy Maps, Future Maps

Submitted by Angus, who says: I’ve been working on this map of an integrated rail network for Greater Glasgow of the (imagined) near future for quite some time and now that it’s finally finished I’d love to know what you make of it. Shortly after beginning the project I found your blog and I’ve been regularly trawling through it for inspiration and tips ever since. I started work on the map for three basic reasons. […]

From Unofficial to Official: Igor Skliarevsky’s Kiev Rapid Transit Map

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Official Maps

I first covered Igor’s vision for an improved rapid transit map for Kiev way back in 2011, and I was impressed with what I saw even back then. He’s continued to work on it and improve it since then, and it finally seems that his hard work is paying off. The latest version of his map is now being placed in some Metro trains as a pilot program, hopefully leading to full acceptance as the […]

Future Map: Diagram of Construction-related Closures on the Paris RER A Line, 2015–2021

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Future Maps

Submitted by peopleneedaplacetogo. When you have a project that’s going to shut down the central section of one of your busiest commuter rail lines completely for four weeks of summer over the next four years, you’d better make sure that you communicate effectively with your stakeholders. The RATP seems to be doing just that with the massive RER A rail renewal project: this diagram is just one of six different project maps available on their […]

Historical Map: Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Metro, Russia, 1973

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Historical Maps

A curvaceous, minimalist diagram. Notably mainly for the strangely muted colour scheme (yellow, brown and purple?) and the interesting interchange station symbols, which make things very clear by showing two arrows pointing in opposite directions. Visually, I like the way that the diagram makes use of overprinting where the route lines overlap. Update: I’ve since found out that this map is a small inset on a much larger geographical map of bus services in Leningrad, […]

Historical Map: ACTUAL H.C. Beck Greater London Tube/Rail Map, 1938

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Historical Maps

Thanks to Robert McConnell, who let me know that the map I featured in my last post is actually a modern digital map made by none other than Maxwell Roberts. Roberts states that he based his version of the map off one that Beck produced, unsolicited, in 1938 and that a copy of this version is in Ken Garland’s excellent book, “Mr. Beck’s Underground Map”. I own a copy of this book, so was a […]

Historical Map: Beck-style Greater London Tube/Rail Map (c. 1940s?)

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Historical Maps

Here’s something via Chris Applegate on Flickr, where Chris says: Finally put up and framed the gorgeous vintage Tube map I won in a competition yonks ago. It is gorgeous, but it’s not just a Tube map, nor is it anything I’ve ever actually seen before.  It appears to be a Greater London Tube Map/main line railway diagram produced in a Beck-like style – a precursor to this 1988 “London Connections” map (May 2013, 3 stars) […]

Reader Question: Which of Beck’s London Underground Maps Do You Prefer?

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Questions

Question: Which of Beck’s maps of the London Underground do you most prefer, and what properties does it have that elevate it above the others in your opinion as a designer? Answer: My absolute favourite Beck-drawn Tube Map is actually his unpublished 1961 Victoria Line proposal, which I wrote about in this post back in 2012. Go take a look at it – it’s simply gorgeous, with an arrow-straight lavender Victoria Line cutting directly across […]